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Frugal Republican John Stephen

by: Dean Barker

Sun Sep 05, 2010 at 07:01:34 AM EDT
Fiscal conservative John Stephen knows how to run a frugal campaign!
WHEN A QUESTION comes up about Republican John Stephen's campaign for governor, it usually goes to Greg Moore for an answer.

But Moore's name does not appear on Stephen's campaign finance reports as having received a paycheck -- yet.

..."I have not received any compensation from John Stephen or from anybody else for the purposes of work I have done for the campaign. None. Not one dollar," he said.

Frugal, I tell you!:
Some of [then HHS Commissioner] Stephen's other moves struck State House observers as galling. For instance, he added a former campaign aide, Greg Moore, to the health department's payroll as his public affairs director. Moore described his mission at the time as "to communicate all the good things we do." But the hiring seemed little more than political patronage to some.

"That was a standing joke in the State House," former Republican state representative Elizabeth Hager said of Moore's position.

Moore is now a spokesman for Stephen's gubernatorial campaign.

Whether it's using the state money to create a position for former campaign help, or secretive $300,000 payoffs to clean up after the mess made from a partisan resume building exercise, New Hampshire Republican candidates for higher office are frugal!

Must be a Benson thing.  
Dean Barker :: Frugal Republican John Stephen
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Frugal Republican John Stephen | 9 comments
When you look at Carol Shea Porter (0.00 / 0)
and how frugal that campaign is, it puts it in perspective.  I have at this moment in my trunk about 30 recycled Carol campaign signs.  I still have bumper stickers from the last campaign.  When we pick up the signs, which we do promptly, we bring them all to one person's house, which has a barn, and we store them there. They get washed by volunteers and used until they fall apart.  So if you see a Carol sign that looks slightly used, remember that you may have seen it 2 years ago, and even 4 years ago.
As for my campaign, I have been printing my own handouts and cutting the paper in thirds with a handy gadget I got for 12 bucks.  After all, my supporters are people who have not made out well under the Republican economic miracle.  I feel lucky when someone can give me $25.  
Great Job, Lucy... (0.00 / 0)
...campaigns have to remember that it's not just how much money you "raise" that matters, it's how you spend it -- and virtually any campaign can get twice the bang for the dollar by thinking through their budgets, and that every dollar spent should be aimed at getting votes.  

Smaller signs can be every bit as effective as large ones in most locations.  Things like buttons that are collected just by the converted are wasteful compared with those little handouts you're cutting out of sheets of paper -- and your handouts are what communicates your message and gets votes.

It still amazes me that candidates at all levels still figure they need the "fancy and splashy" vs the clean, clear, crisp message without overusing color or flash!

[ Parent ]
You may have noticed that there are no more complaints (0.00 / 0)
about the "continual" campaign or the length of political campaigns.  That's largely because the script-writing industry and the advertising industry have morphed into the campaign consulting, strategy and media relations industry.  There's big money to be had advertising politicians, all of whose promises are about the future and many of which nobody actually wants or expects to be fulfilled.  "less filling" is another variant of "failure by design."  The truth is that when people hand over money of their own accord in the interest of something that can't be proved or disproved, it's pure gravy.  No question of fraud, ever.

Recycling campaign signs is definitely frugal.  We put ours out as a matter of routine.  They sprout in late summer in even numbered years like lady slippers pop up in the spring.

Shea-Porter, the lady slipper candidate.

[ Parent ]
I made a few buttons (4.00 / 1)
You can buy the plastic ones at any craft store, I printed out a picture, actually a picture of my favorite planet, with my name and for state rep on it, and since the only buttons I could find had magnets on the backs we peeled those off, got pins and used what my husband insists is super-duty duct tape to fasten the pins on the back.  Pop the picture in, voila, button, reusable, I can wear one and I give a few to others who particularly want them.  Not much cost, and if you buy them premade they are only available in very small or very large quantities, etc.  I don't need many.  I think I made a dozen.  
[ Parent ]
Badge-A-Minute! (0.00 / 0)
I have a Badge-A-Minute machine for the same purpose!  Neat, quick, inexpensive, and I can cause lots of trouble that way!  
[ Parent ]
May I recommend? (0.00 / 0)

http://www.dailykos.com/story/...
Oh, that is fascinating! (0.00 / 0)
Everyone should take a look!  
Of course we have no sales tax in NH, so we can't benefit from this, but we aren't as badly off as many other states.  

[ Parent ]
If Moore regularly makes a living doing public relations or (0.00 / 0)
communications, then his deferred compensation would have to be characterized as an in-kind donation and reported as such.
John Stephen is about to learn (0.00 / 0)
(once again) that at the end of the day, NH voters aren't interested in him.  
Frugal Republican John Stephen | 9 comments

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